USCIS Fees
As of August 1, 2008, USCIS raised it's fees for I-600A and
I-800A filing to $750.00, plus $80.00 per set of fingerprints.
They will now allow 1 free extension of fingerprints and I-600A.
Currently the fee for the I 824 form is $340.00 and the N600
is $460.00.
FRED FORD’S BOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE!
Fred Ford, one of our very own adoptive parents, recently became
a published author! The book is titled “A Gift for Lila
Rose: A China Adoption Love Story” and it is due for official
release on November 22, 2008 but is currently available on all
major on-line booksellers including amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com,
target.com, and the publisher’s website www.publishamerica.com.
The book is a memoir pertaining to Fred’s adoption (with
wife Dorothy) of their daughter Lila Rose from China, and the
story of the subsequent movie Fred produced (“Lila Rose
Comes Home at Last”). Congratulations to Fred and stay
tuned for a future book signing event!
Natural Born Citizen Act
A bipartisan bill (S. 2128) was introduced to the Senate
on February 25, 2004. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Senator Mary
Landrieu (D-LA) and Senator Don Nickles (R-OK) introduced this
bill with the hopes of allowing children adopted abroad by U.S.
citizens the same rights as native-born children. This would
include the right to run for the President of the United States.
We will keep you posted as this bill progresses. To view a copy
of the bill and the floor statements go to the Joint
Council on International Children's Services website.
Tax ID Number
The time of year for preparing Income Tax Returns is approaching.
At times, adoptive families will have their child join them
during a tax year, but have not received a Social Security
Number for the child by the time they are preparing their tax
returns. HAVE NO FEAR! The IRS IS HERE! Families may apply
for a Tax ID Number for just this circumstance. This number
may be used only once (it is expected that you will have a
SS# by the following return). Contact your IRS at www.irs.gov and download
form W-7A. It takes a while to get the number, so apply
as soon as possible.
For Korean Adoptive Families Only: Be sure to send
in a copy of your child's permanent resident card with the
application or the IRS may not process it.
Certificate of Citizenship
There are two types of visas issued for families where a final
order of adoption was completed overseas.
The IR3 visa is issued to families where the child is adopted
abroad and the parents have seen the child at least once either
before or during the adoption process in the foreign country.
If you received an IR-3 visa through the country you adopted
from, then you will receive your Certificate of Citizenship within
45 days of arriving home. The USCIS is asking that you give them
the full 45 days prior to making any inquires. If at that point
you haven’t received it, the number to call for the National
Customer Service Center through the USCIS is 1-800-375-5283.
Please note that some families have received an IR-4 visa due
to the fact that only one parent traveled to the country to pick
up the child. In this case you will need to readopt in this country
and then apply for citizenship for your child.
The IR4 visa is issued to families where the foreign country
does not issue final adoptions or the family has come home with
a final adoption, but one of the parents has not seen the child
either before or during the adoption process. In this case, the
family will have to readopt in this country through the state
and county where they live and then apply for the Certificate
of Citizenship (N-600
form with USCIS).
To read more information about this issue you can go the the
U.S. State Department web site: www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/rsrcs/pubs/7321.htm
